During the latest court session at the Court of Appeals where second President Robert Kocharyan’s deterrence method was being discussed, Kocharyan held a speech, which lasted for two hours.
When asked if Kocharyan spoke about the ten people who were killed, and what happened that resulted in their deaths, Kocharyan’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan said, “Two of the casualties were police officers. Perhaps you can guess what caused their deaths. I can also only guess. Mr. Kocharyan did not speak about that. There were armed people on both sides- on one side, there were police officers, and on the other side, there were the protesters and the rioters. That’s where the armed people were. When I listened to the phone conversation between Levon Ter-Petrossian and Alexander Arzumanyan regarding the events of March 1st, I understood that it is not unlikely that those people’s deaths were the result of gunshots fired from the rioters.”
Kocharyan also spoke about all the provisions of the accusation against him, and denied all of them. According to Alumyan, “He said something very important. He said that he took two actions during that time period: he called for a conference on February 23rd, and he declared a state of emergency on March 1st.”
Mass protests were held in Armenia, after presidential elections on 2008. The protests were organized by the supporters of the First President of Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian. During the protest held on March 1, 2008, clashes broke out between police and protesters. President Robert Kocharyan declared a 20-day state of emergency.
Hripsime Jebejyan
